I went
to the Goodwill this weekend to find a pot to use as a double boiler
for making candles. I needed something cheap, something that I didn't
mind ruining. I found a perfect pot for around three dollars. Gotta
love that. I am intending to document the candle making experience
into another comic, so stay tuned for that.
I also
found a black ceramic lamp that is just begging for a Jil
Smith shade...(as soon as I get my seriously lagging bee-hind
up there...sorry guys...someday)
But, the absolute BEST find of the Goodwill trip was something that
I seriously fantasize* about. I found a bea-U-tiful chocolate brown
100% cashmere sweater for FOUR DOLLARS! HUZZAH!
Congratulations
to Julie
and family for the arrival of baby Henry!
I am interested in the Russell
+ Hazel line of office/desk accessories. The binders,
for one, have a mini dry erase surface on the inside. That's pretty
cool. I also like the line of paper
products. It sorta makes me wish I was going back to school....only
for about 5 seconds, but still. I am a sucker for grid
paper.
Stef
linked to Paper
Source yesterday, which has a project
for the coolest handmade book-type thing using A2 Envelopes. It
reminds me of the wonderful Griffin
and Sabine series by Nick Bantock. Paper Source gives it a utilitarian
use, housing to-do lists and such, but I think it has a great potential
for magic.
I got the latest issue of Lucky in the mail a few days ago and I
have thoroughly "Yes!" stickered it to death. For those
of you unfamiliar with the magazine, they have a page of stickers
that say "Yes!" and "Maybe?" that you can go
through and stick on the pages you like. My favorites include the
Maria
Evora Spanish Cameo soap and the Regina
Harris Perfume. (love the bottle)
I made a batch of foaming milkbath this weekend for J. I am lucky
to have a man that likes bubble baths as much (if not more) than
I do. While I was gathering the ingredients, I realized that I did
not have anything to house the final product in. I seem to spend
an awful lot time thinking of cool labels and packaging, yet fail
to act on any of them so that when the need arises, I am forced
to use a ziploc freezer bag on the back of the toilet. So uncool.
I quite
like these
apothecary jars, but I would also go for glass ones I think.
I know I have seen them around various places....so I need to keep
my eyes peeled. Here is the milk bath recipe I used:
Foaming
Milk Bath:
1 cup non fat instant milk powder
1 cup whole
milk powder
1 cup dead
sea powder
1/2 cup colloidal
oatmeal
1/2 cup Sodium
Lauryl Sulfoacetate* use a mask and good ventilation with this
stuff. It goes everywhere as it is highly dispersible. It will get
up your nose and make you cough, but it won't kill you.
20 or so drops EO or FO. I used a Honey fragrance oil I got as a
sample from From
Nature With Love. I like it a lot..it's not too heavy or perfumy.
If I was really on the ball I would've added a little Honey
Powder to the mix.
I am not very fancy. I mixed and am currently storing this stuff
in a ziploc. But not for long..
I was
looking for a new pair of shoes for the other day..something dressy,
something with a smallish heal....something cheap, but not too
cheap..and I found these:
They are from Chinese
Laundry, and as as soon as I saw the name I knew they HAD to
be mine, especially since they were (still are) on sale! I love
the pointy toe and the little kitten heel.
Last night was the last night our guests were staying with us (sorry..funky
sentence) and I made some great appetizers. I had them down in San
Diego at a friend of J's and they are SOOO good and SOOO easy. The
name is sounds hoighty-toighty: Smoked
gouda, prosciutto, and caramelized onion quesadillas.
But essentially it's just cheese, meat and onions. You will need:
smoked
gouda or smoked mozzarella
a package of prosciutto
a couple of onions
flour tortillas
Caramelize
the onions, grate the cheese, and slice the prosciutto into
small strips. Heat your pan over med to med-high and throw in
your tortilla. Assemble the quesadilla as you see fit. I put some
cheese, small sprinkling of proscuitto and then some of the onions.
Add another tortilla to the top and let it cook for a few minutes.
Flip and let the tortilla and cook for a few more minutes until
it's to your liking. Transfer to a board and cut into wedges.
Very good with a bottle of cheap sparkling wine.
Wow..I
am super busy. Work is kicking into gear and we currently have guests
which means I am running on too much wine and too little sleep.
Hang tight! Regular posting to resume shortly.
Denise
was right on when she posted this
link in the comments box. I LOVE those! This past weekend I
went through all of the magazine clippings I have been saving, as
well as a HUGE stack of intact magazines and organized and filed
them all. Those hat boxes would fit right on the inspiration
page I put together for my bedroom. Loose
Ends (takes a bit to load) sells a set of paper
mache hat boxes that one could paint or cover with cool paper.
They also sell this paper
mache "female torso"/dress form I covet, especially
since I found this
clipping I completely forgot about. It was fun going through
all of the crap I have been saving and refreshing myself with why
I saved it all in the first place. I need to remember to do that
more often.
I bookmarked
art-e-zine
a long time ago (I think it's from Glitter)
and totally forgot about it. It has an amazing showcase of
paper arts/crafts. I particularly like the playing
cards oh..and the mailbooks.
J has been trying to tell me for the last month that the tall tree
type thing right outside our kitchen door currently bearing blue
fruit is a blueberry bush. I protested. I am not a huge fan of blueberries
and have never seen a blueberry bush/tree in real life. I was convinced
that our blue-ish berries were some sort of joke that mother nature
likes to play. You know, not ALL berries are edible. I squeezed
one of them and the berry was white inside. "Aren't blueberries
blue?" I asked J. I went on to tell him that we would probably
die if we ate them and there was no way in hell I was putting one
of those things in my mouth. Fast forward a few weeks, J's boss
and his two kids stop by our house and walk right by the tree and
J's boss yells "Goddammit Erica, you got blueberries!"
I tried to tell him my "white on the inside theory" but
J's boss is a winemaker and as you know, grapes are mostly "white
on the inside" so he didn't buy my line of bull. I have to
admit that I was convinced only after I made him and his two children
eat them in front of me. I am probably going to hell for that one,
but if someone was going to die from faux-berry poisoning it was
not going to be me. Imagine my shock when it was then pointed out
to me that we have ANOTHER blueberry bush in the front yard as well.
What am I going to with all of these blueberries? Pancakes? Muffins?
Blueberry-Peach
Tequila Popsicles? I bought these FABULOUS pop-up
molds from Williams-Sonoma and I think I am going to make them
for some guests we are hosting this weekend. J was right and gave
me the biggest "I told you so" ever...
As you can tell, I am fiddling with the layout of this space. I
have been wanting to but a side bar of all the cool and interesting
things I have been doing (like LJC,
Da*Xiang
and Absolutely-vile
just to name a few) but I realized as I was trying to put this all
together that I have not been doing much of anything cool OR interesting
lately.
I have been experimenting with a new media. I have always loved
pen and ink, but have never gotten around to fiddling with it. I
decided to follow the wonderful Artbabe
DIY comic tutorial and after support and advice from Miss
Wee, I present my
first comic. It must be noted that I originally intended to
hand letter everything, but for reasons that are too complicated
and boring to go into here, I used the computer. I also must mention
that it looks a lot better in person...I cannot figure out how to
scan I guess. There was something else that I was going to mention...darn...um...
oh yeah!
